In view of the hysterical misinformation Scott Morrison and Christian Porter have been peddling so as to justify their siding with management and against workers in the dispute between the Maritime Union of Australia and Patricks Terminals, I think I can do no better than to present the other side in this story:
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False claims that limited, legally-protected industrial action at Patrick’s Port Botany container terminal is causing major shipping delays, including to medical supplies, are nothing more than an attempt to use community fear to force through attacks on workplace rights, according to the Maritime Union of Australia.
The union said that claims that 40 container ships were sitting off the NSW coast waiting to unload was an outright lie, with vessels due to berth at Patrick’s terminal in the coming days all still travelling towards Sydney. The Patrick terminal is currently unloading several vessels, with more due to arrive this week.
The only industrial action that has occurred at the Patrick container terminal in Port Botany has been a single 4 hour-stoppage about four weeks ago, along with bans on working excessive hours.
The full press release.
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Morrison today seemed to threaten to send troops to quash the protected industrial action the MUA is taking.
(A little background may be required here. In Australia, unlike virtually all civilised nations, the right to strike -- among other human rights, like freedom of speech -- is not formally recognized. In its lieu, what is left to workers is the highly qualified "protected industrial action". In a nutshell, during bargaining and only during bargaining a union is legally entitled to launch a protected industrial action. For more details, ACTU factsheet and Fair Work Ombudsman factsheet).
The CEO of Patricks Terminals, Michael Jovicic, interviewed this afternoon by the ABC's Jane Norman, also seemed to threaten wharfies. In his case, the weapon was scabs.
Norman herself noticed that and asked Jovicic. That's when he apparently realised that threats, when one is trying to sound reasonable, do not look good and so decided to deny it. What he did not notice was that in the background viewers could see containers being moved and vehicles leaving the wharf, which shows that operations were not suspended.
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The Fair Work Commission will intervene in the dispute. (Here, as well, a little background is required. Although similarly named, the Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman are different organisations, with different functions.)
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